FOCUS ON CORSHAM & CHIPPENHAM
Cover story:
MAKING HISTORY AT HARTHAM PARK
Corsham’ s Hartham Park is a major part of Wiltshire’ s heritage. It’ s been a place to meet, host events and do business in different guises for centuries.
Its seen all of the revolutions, right the way through from the cultural revolution, to the first industrial revolution in iron and steel and then the rise of technology- what we call the fourth revolution.
Go back a thousand years and Hartham is mentioned in the Doomsday Book as a deer park or deer enclosure. It even gets Its name from a derivation of the word heorot, which in Saxon times meant deer.
If the walls of Hartham Park could talk they would have many a story to tell. The house has played host to military leaders, politicians, playwrights, businessmen and innovators.
Its current owner, Jeff Thomas is passionate about preserving the property’ s history, but at the same time investing in its future, so that it continues to be a place people talk about for years to come. He has big ambitions for Hartham Park and has set in place a 100-year plan to turn the estate into a permanent innovation and educational zone.
We met Jeff to find out more about Hartham’ s past, present and his vision for its future. From our exclusive interview, we have several instalments to share with you in the coming issues of The Business Exchange. Here we begin with its history.
THE PAST
The Goddards Hartham Park is the story of two houses and three families. The first family to mention is the Goddards. They originated from Somerset and ended their family journey at Stratton, near Swindon. They were of substantial wealth and owned properties in Hungerford, Monkton Farleigh, Cheney Court at Ditteridge and Rudloe Manor in Corsham. Hartham was home to the Goddards in the 15th Century and underneath the Hartham Park we see today is a Jacobean farmhouse.
The Ducketts The second family that made their mark on Hartham’ s history were the Ducketts. The Ducketts came across with William the Conqueror and received 150,000 acres in thanks. The Ducketts had a house at Hartham, which is now under the car park. The house belonged to Lionel Duckett, one of the Merchant adventurers of the City of London and was four times Master of the Mercers’ Company, and Lord Mayor of London in 1572.
The Joys Originally, the Hartham Park estate would have been made up of two stately homes quite close together. It wasn’ t until the 1830s that the properties known as Hartham Park and
Hartham House were brought together. At this time, it was under the ownership of American exile, Michael Joy. He was a renegade from the American War of Independence, he supported the British, unfortunately the British lost and he found it impossible to remain in America.
The Methuens Soon after the properties were brought together they were sold to Paul Methuen from Corsham Court. He had a big mortgage on it and only owned it for a few years as he couldn’ t keep up the mortgage repayments and was forced to sell.
Notable Character- Lady Anne James Lady Anne James was a Goddard before she married her husband William James. Her family owned the estate at Hartham for over 400 years.
Lady Anne married William James, a miller’ s son from Haverford West. With no education, he joined the East India Navy as a young man. He worked his way up to be captain of the ship and as captain he did some pretty heroic things off the coast of India near Mumbai, including protecting the fleet from notorious Indian pirates. For that he was promoted to Commodore of the Fleet. He retired from the East India Navy as a Commodore and he then became director of the East India Company before then rising to become Chairman of the East India Company.
When William James died, Lady Anne inherited all of his wealth and used it to invest in Hartham estate. She appointed the architect of the day, James Wyatt from London and asked him to remodel Hartham. James Wyatt spent four years redeveloping Hartham and there’ s only one wall left from the original Jacobean house. He built the Hartham Park we see today and designed it to face due south.
Lady Anne James only lived in the house for four years before she died and left it to her nephew- Lord Rankin, who at the time was only one year old. It was rented out as one of his assets until he was 21 when he sold it immediately.
In the April / May edition of The Business Exchange, read about Hartham Park’ s Halcyon days and how it became home to another strong female character, a place for partying and a space for innovative sports and well-being.
Hartham Park is an innovative business community set within this magnificent country estate in Corsham, and is a place to meet, work and host events. With flexible workspace, co-working facilities and a fantastic Café too, find out more by visiting www. harthampark. com or call their Business Centre on 01249 700 000
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2018 15